Nuodaogen: Treating Excessive Sweating, Night Sweats, Chyluria, and Nosebleed

Nuodaogen is the root and rhizome of glutinous rice (Oryza sativa glutinosa) of the Poaceae family. Each summer and autumn, after the glutinous rice harvest, the rhizomes and fibrous roots are dug up, washed, stripped of residual stems, and sun-dried for medicinal use. Traditional TCM considers nuodaogen sweet and acrid in taste, neutral in nature, entering the lung and kidney meridians. It nourishes yin and removes heat, and stops sweating. It is used for yin-deficiency fever, spontaneous and night sweating, thirst and dry throat, hepatitis, and filariasis.

Nuodaogen's most notable effect is stopping sweating, especially in children with sweating disorders; for incessant pediatric sweating it need not even be taken internally—washing the child with its decoction suffices. Pediatric excessive sweating and night sweats are common, and children often resist taking medicine, so a bath decoction is more acceptable.

One study used 150 g nuodaogen rootlets boiled with 2500 ml cold water. This dose is for a 15 kg child; for each additional 2 kg of body weight, add 50 g nuodaogen and 500 ml cold water. From when the water boils, continue cooking 20 minutes, strain, cool to about 40°C, and shower the child for 30 minutes once daily for 3-7 days. Of 27 children who sweated excessively after antibiotics or combined glucocorticoids for upper respiratory infection, 20 were markedly improved, 6 improved, and 1 ineffective—a very high overall effective rate.

Nuodaogen may also be decocted for internal use, at the usual dose of 15-30 g, up to 60-120 g in large doses. It works well alone, and fresh nuodaogen works even better. It may be combined with black date, brown sugar, and Fupingxia (Tritici Levis Fructus) for incessant sweating. Its sweating-stopping effect is not limited to children; adults with excessive sweating may also take its decoction.

As a pediatric staple, nuodaogen is used not only for sweating but also for pediatric epistaxis (nosebleed). The Fujian Materia Medica records that Fujian locals use 30 g nuodaogen with one pig pancreas, decocted in water, for epistaxis. Alternatively, 30 g nuodaogen with 15 g water plantain (Shuicheqian) may be decocted for epistaxis.

Nuodaogen is also a common herb for filariasis (chyluria). Taking 250-500 g nuodaogen alone, decocted in water, treats chyluria; those who cannot stand the taste may add brown sugar to taste. In addition, the Chinese Herbal Materia Medica records a folk remedy of 62 g each of nuodaogen and Zishen (Sanguisorbae/Radix Rubiae), decocted with sugar, for hepatitis.